Advantages of Using PowerPoint Presentation in EFL - IJ-ELTS

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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
Vol:1, Issue:1
Advantages of Using PowerPoint Presentation in EFL Classroom
Alkash & Al-Dersi
Advantages of Using PowerPoint Presentation in EFL Classroom & the
Status of its Use in Sebha University
Kheira Altaher Musa Alkash
Academy of Higher Education
Tripoli, Libya
Zamzam Emhemmad Mari Al-Dersi
Academy of Higher Education
Tripoli, Libya
Abstract
The use of Technology has had an enormous impact on the world of education. The
use of technology has many advantages for the field of education and particularly
for foreign language education. Technology can build substantial interest by adding
variety and bringing new experiences to the classroom. That is why technology is
increasingly being promulgated as a powerful mechanism which can
education (Deville, 2001).
significant
transform
In that respect, this paper aims to highlight the
benefits of PowerPoint
Presentation for both the EFL teacher
and
learners in Sebha University. The paper also discusses a variety of ways in which
this technology can be used in English language learning classroom.
Key
words:
Technology,
PowerPoint
Presentation,
EFL
Classrooms,
CALL,
Software, motivation
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
April-June, 2013
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1. Introduction
Educational
technology
and
Computer-Assisted
Language
Learning
(CALL)
provide many benefits in EFL classrooms for teaching the Language skills:
listening, speaking, reading and writing as well as vocabulary and grammar.
Various CALL programs involve the use of computer and their application to
teach and learn language in variety of ways. PowerPoint Presentation is also
considered as a part of CALL. PowerPoint Presentation is a type of presentation
software (PS) that allows users to show colored text and images with simple
animation and sound. It helps to create audio, visual as well as audio-visual
effects in the classrooms while teaching and can be highly effective in attracting
and sustaining students’ attention. Today it is a much widely used presentation
program in every field. However, it actually originated in the world of business.
Today it
has
become
common-place
practice
in
the
world
of
educational
technology.
Though it is widely used education technology today, its use has not been free
from
various
controversies
surrounding
it
as
it
happens
when
any
new
technology makes debut in the field of education. Some have regarded its use in
education
as
‘significantly
‘highly
negative’
supportive’
(Szabo
&
whereas
some
Hastings,
have
2000;
regarded
Lowry,
its
2003).
use
as
Though
PowerPoint Presentation has been in existence for many years, it has just begun
to spread to schools and ESL classrooms and must be exploited to its fullest
while teaching a foreign language like English (Fisher, 2003).
In this regard, the
present study attempts to provide an insight into the value of using PowerPoint
Presentation to present various instructions while teaching English as a foreign
language in the classrooms of the University of Sebha. The findings of this study
can be shared among the teachers and instructors teaching English as a foreign
language in various campuses of the University of Sebha and among the Libyan
teachers of English as a foreign language in general. It is assumed
that this use
of PowerPoint
the present
Presentation will help significantly to
improve
teaching and learning methods and strategies at the university level.
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2. PowerPoint Presentation: Meaning, Nature and Advantages
PowerPoint Presentation is one of the multimedia technologies. One of the most
important uses of this technology is that it makes it easy for instructors to
incorporate various multimedia into their teaching and instructions.
It is a
Presentation Software (PS) which is easy to use and easily available. It offers a
complete presentation graphics package. It gives you everything you need to
produce a professional-looking presentation.
Presentation software (PS) is an
authoring computer application that makes it possible to combine text, graphics,
images, and sound to
create sophisticated multimedia presentations (Gordon,
2007, P. 192). Many teachers today, from elementary school to college and
university level, are enthusiastically embracing PowerPoint
Presentation as an
instructional tool. It is argued that PowerPoint Presentation "enhances instruction
and motivates students to learn" (Harrison, 1998, P. 9). Critics of the technology,
however, have negative opinions. Some believe that the software’s rigid format
"usually weaken[s] verbal and spatial reasoning, and almost always corrupt[s]
statistical analysis" (Tufte, 2003, P.3).
Presentations
with
students
is
a
Many believe that using PowerPoint
productive
learning
activity
(Alster,
2002;
Mason, & Hylnka, 1998). Yet many detractors believe that its rigid format stifles
not only students’ creativity, but also their ability to understand and convey
information (Tufte, 2003; Keller, 2003).
With such conflicting and opposing views about the use of PowerPoint Presentation, many
new users of this technology face a dilemma. And many in this dilemma start asking a
question: how can an EFL teacher use PowerPoint Presentation thoughtfully and
effectively for instructional purposes? The answer is, it an individual teacher’s choice.
Teachers should decide and make it clear what can a tool like PowerPoint Presentation
accomplish in instructions, both in terms of skills and learning.
There are many
advantages of the use of PowerPoint Presentation as discussed above and they should
suffice the EFL teachers willing to incorporate this technology in their teaching and
instructions. The development of note-taking skills is a vital transferable skill for foreign
language learning and
careful use of PowerPoint Presentation can encourage this. This is often done and can be
done by providing students with only outline structures that require annotation or handouts
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which are ‘interactive’ (Race, 1999). Wright (2009) also suggests that PowerPoint is a
convenient prop for poor speakers. It can reduce complicated messages to simple bullet
points. It also elevates style over substance. All these three things definitely contribute to
its popularity and should therefore be exercised and practiced.
3. PowerPoint Presentation & Its Advantages in EFL classrooms
As PowerPoint Presentation offers infinite benefits and advantages for offering
language
instructions
language
teachers,
in
attractive,
from
elementary
simplified
schools
yet
to
in
powerful
University
way,
level,
enthusiastically embracing this powerful tool for transforming their teaching.
many
are
As
teaching and learning of English as a foreign language often poses many
difficulties for teachers to present the language instructions, this technology can
be a helping hand in achieving this goal of language instruction in easy yet
powerful way. It is also difficult to make EFL learners grasp and understand
certain difficult
and complicated topics because of English being a foreign
language. However, various audio, visual, and audio-visual features embedded in
the use of PowerPoint Presentation can surely help a lot in making the ideas
simple and easy to grasp for the EFL learners due to these features.
PowerPoint
Presentation also helps in making EFL classroom highly interactive. This is the
situation which all the language pedagogues advocate for better and meaningful
teaching and learning.
In English as a foreign language classroom, it is very difficult to attract and sustain the
attention of the learners due to the foreign language status of English. However,
PowerPoint Presentation can contribute a lot in achieving this.
and audio-visual features
Various graphic, visual
embedded in the use of PowerPoint Presentation help attract
and sustain the much required learners’ attention. With practical benefits like these and
arguments presented in support of its use in the earlier section, it makes one feel that an
attempt must be made to incorporate this technological tool into language teaching and
instructions. With various practical benefits and advantages embedded in its use,
PowerPoint Presentation can surely be a great help and boon for an EFL teacher and also
for the learners.
4. The Use of PowerPoint Presentation in EFL classrooms of the University of
Sebha
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The use of PowerPoint Presentation in education in general and in foreign
language instruction in particular has dominated for a very long period of time
and has been advocated and recommended due to infinite and practical benefits
embedded in it.
It has numerous advantages both for EFL teachers and learners
and can contribute a lot in making teaching and learning of English language not
only interactive and
easy but also a fun and rewarding experience. Therefore, a
teacher of English as a foreign language should equip himself/ herself with this
highly effective, powerful yet very simple and easily available technological tool.
However, this much advocated and recommended educational tool does not seem
to enjoy the status it should enjoy in the EFL classrooms of Sebha University.
Majority of the EFL teachers in Sebha University usually present their lectures
by using traditional methods and tools such as black and white boards, dictation,
or oral explanation etc. The use of PowerPoint Presentation does not appear to be
the commonly used practice. This contributes to making learning English as a
foreign language quite difficult for the Libyan EFL learners. In this regard, the
present paper aims to find out the existing status of the use of the PowerPoint
Presentation in EFL classrooms of the University of Sebha. All other issues
related to this main problem are also investigated in the paper.
4.1 Background to the study
The use of PowerPoint presentations by teachers can offer the opportunity for presenting
lectures more effectively and can be a great tool for making teaching and learning of
English as a foreign language easy, interactive and enjoyable experience. However, this
does not seem to be the reality in the Libyan EFL classrooms of the University of Sebha.
Most of the teachers and the instructors of English language in the University of Sebha till
use the old and traditional techniques like using black and white boards, or preparing some
printed noted to be given in each class and using lecture method to explain the topic being
discussed. This makes the learning of English as a foreign language quite difficult for the
Libyan EFL learners. The EFL status of English in Libya also makes them understand the
topic being discussed in the classrooms quite difficult. Such methods make it quite
difficult for them to grasp and understand the main concepts and ideas in theoretical
subjects like Linguistics. This leads them to develop negative attitude not only towards
learning of English but also towards their teachers. Most of the Libyan EFL learners are
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familiar with the advanced technologies in EFL teaching and learning and when they see
that their teachers hardly making use of these; they feel the widening generation gap. In
this case, the underlying problems needed to be investigated and attempt is done to find
out the reasons behind not using the educational technologies such as PowerPoint
Presentation by the Libyan EFL teachers.
4.2 Samples and Methodology
To investigate the status of the use of PowerPoint Presentation Technology in the
EFL classrooms of the University of Sebha, interview and classroom observation
methods were employed. The samples or the participants in the classroom
observation method were 111 students from the seventh and eight semesters of
the department of English Language and Translation Studies of the University of
Sebha. They were studying English as a foreign language and their specialization
was Applied Linguistics. They aged between 21-23 years. The distribution of
these participants was as follow: seventh semester- 80 students and eighth
semester- 31 students. The seventh semester students were divided into
groups:
group
A
and
group
B.
These
students
were
interviewed
two
for
understanding: 1) the status of the use of the PowerPoint Presentation in their
classes from their teachers for presenting lectures, 2) Existing strategies and
methods
used
by
the
teachers
for
presenting
lectures
and
instructions,
3)
Difficulties faced by the Libyan EFL learners in such classes while grasping and
understanding lectures in the main subjects in Applied Linguistics and 4) their
views and perceptions towards the use of PowerPoint Presentation for presenting
lectures and instructions in their classrooms. These interviews were open-ended
and offered the participants opportunities to express their views and problems in
free way.
To understand the status of the use of PowerPoint Presentation in the Libyan EFL
classrooms of the University of Sebha, while presenting lecture, and problems
faced, while making use of this technology from teachers’ point of view, 5
Libyan EFL teachers were also interviewed.
This was essential to get teachers’
perspective and to avoid bias. The collected data were arranged, classified and
analyzed. The next section of the paper offers the discussion and results of the
collected data.
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4.3 Experiment by using PowerPoint Presentation to present lecture
The researchers also used the PowerPoint Presentation method for delivering the
lecture with the help of one Libyan EFL teacher in the Teaching Methods and
Micro-Teaching Classes.
effectiveness
of
the
This was an experiment to assess and check the
use
of
PowerPoint
Presentation
in
the
Libyan
EFL
classrooms of the University of Sebha. This was also carried out to check the
Libyan EFL learners’ perceptions towards this technology for presenting lectures
as well as language instructions and its effectiveness in the class for learning
English.
Two groups of the seventh semester and one group of eighth semester were
thought
by
PowerPoint
Presentation
for
one
complete
semester
by
co-
coordinating with the course-teacher. These lectures were attended and observed
to find out if this experiment of using PowerPoint Presentation to present the
lecture really helped the course-teacher to present the lecture in effective way and
for the learners in understanding and grasping the lecture in better way than
before.
After the end of this experiment, the Libyan EFL learners were asked if they
liked the use of the PowerPoint Presentation method for presenting the lecture
and did it help them in understanding and grasping the concepts and topics being
taught by using PowerPoint Presentation. All these collected data were analyzed
and the following section of the paper offers the details about it.
5.
Data Analysis & Discussion
All the collected data from the interview method given to the students prior and
after the use of the PowerPoint Presentation method were arranged, classified and
analyzed following the techniques used to analyze such data in social sciences.
The detailed discussion and results of these are presented in the following
section.
5.1 Analysis and discussion of the data collected from the students prior
and after the use of PowerPoint Presentation
The questions asked to the students in the interviews prior to the use of the
PowerPoint Presentation centered around
four points: 1) the status of the use of
the PowerPoint Presentation in their classes from their teachers for presenting
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lectures, 2) Existing strategies and methods used by the teachers for presenting
lectures and instructions, 3) Difficulties faced by them in such classes while
grasping and understanding lectures in the main subjects in Applied Linguistics
and 4) their views and perceptions towards the use of PowerPoint Presentation
for presenting lectures and instructions in their classrooms.
It was clear from the answers given by them that most of the Libyan EFL
teachers used the traditional white board, notes and lecture and discussion
techniques in the EFL classrooms while presenting the lectures. Hardly any
teacher used PowerPoint Presentation method for presenting the lecture. An
overview of these existing methods used by the Libyan EFL teachers for
presenting their lectures is given in the following figure.
Figure 1 Methods and strategies used for presenting lectures in Libyan EFL
classes
With regard to questions 3 and 4, the data revealed that the Libyan EFL learners
face many difficulties while grasping main concepts and theories in various
subjects taught by using the above mentioned methods. As English is a foreign
language in
Libya,
most
of the
students
face the
problem of vocabulary
deficiency which affects their other subjects as they fail to understand the
meaning of many main concepts due to their unfamiliarity with new words. In
this regard, they expected some audio-visual aids or organized presentation of the
topic as this enabled them to understand the meaning of new word from the
context. And for this reasons they expected their teachers to use techniques such
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as PowerPoint as it contains various features like: graphic, audio, videos and
even audio-video.
From this discussion, the following results were obtained:
1) EFL teachers in the University of Sebha use various techniques for presenting
lectures
such
as:
lecture
method,
giving
printed
notes,
explanation
and
discussion.
2) The Use of PowerPoint Presentation for presenting lecture is not the common
practice.
3) The Libyan EFL learners face many difficulties while grasping and understanding main
concepts in the lecture mainly due to the strategies used to present them and the EFL
status of English in Libya.
4) The Libyan EFL learners expect their teachers to use advanced techniques and
tools like PowerPoint Presentation for presenting the lectures.
After analyzing the data collected from the interview method prior to the use of
the PowerPoint Presentation, the data of the post interviews were analyzed and
discussed.
From the data, it was clear that almost all the Libyan EFL learners enjoyed the
teaching and learning with the use of PowerPoint Presentation. They reported
various benefits experienced by them with the use of PowerPoint Presentation in
their
Teaching
Methods
and
Micro-Teaching
class.
The
summary
of
their
responses about the benefits of PowerPoint Presentation experienced by the
Libyan EFL learners includes:
1) PowerPoint Presentation to present the lectures in Teaching Methods and MicroTeaching helped in grasping and understanding the main concepts and theories in
these subjects easily.
2) The use of PowerPoint Presentation made learning interactive and easy.
3) The
Use
of
PowerPoint
Presentation
helped
to
develop
motivation
towards
learning English as a foreign language.
4) With the use of PowerPoint Presentation, studying English was fun and enjoyable
because of various features like graphics and other various audio-visual features.
These benefits of the use of the use of the PowerPoint Presentation experienced
by the Libyan EFL learners are presented in the following figure:
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Figure 2 Benefits of the use of PowerPoint Presentation experienced by the
Libyan EFL learners
Thus, it is clear from the results obtained from the analyses of the data that
almost all the students felt the use of the PowerPoint presentations motivating
and helpful in their study.
It was also observed that the Libyan EFL learners
were more engaged in the lessons when presented with PowerPoint.
After the
experiment, it was noticed that the EFL learners prepared their own lesson plans
in the Micro-teaching class with PowerPoint.
5.2 Analysis and discussion of the data collected from the teachers
After analyzing the data of the students, the Libyan EFL teachers’ data was
analyzed. The data was collected from the teachers in order to understand their
perspective regarding the use of PowerPoint and causes behind the reluctance to
use PowerPoint Presentation.
The data collected from the teachers revealed that
very few of the EFL teachers of the University of Sebha make use of the
PowerPoint Presentations and projectors to explain the lessons.
Most of the
teachers still depend on traditional ways such as printed notes, the conventional
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Alkash & Al-Dersi
markers and white board and lecture and discussion methods. The reasons given
for
opting
for
traditional methods
were
also
different.
Some
teachers
felt
comfortable with the traditional methods of presenting the lectures as they were
used to it. Some believed that the nature of their subject made them opt for
lecture and discussion methods. Some were unfamiliar with operational skills and
softwares required for preparing PowerPoint Presentations. But most common
answer given was the lack of required infrastructure. Most of the teachers
complained that the classrooms and language labs are poorly maintained and lack
the required infrastructures for presenting lectures with the use of PowerPoint
Presentations. The lack of electrical and electronic tools and equipments as well
as other required devices such as OHP, LCD Projectors etc. were among the
reasons given for
classrooms
and
not
opting
language
labs,
for
PowerPoint.
where
teachers
Even
the poorly maintained
could
not
get
the
required
atmosphere for making use of such technologies, were also among the other
related reasons.
They also stated that these facilities and required infrastructures
should be provided by the administration of the University as buying all these by
individual teachers would be highly costly. And that was also one of the reasons
given for not using PowerPoint Presentation in the EFL classrooms by them.
5.3 Results
From the analysis and discussion of the data collected, the following results were
obtained:
1) EFL teachers in the University of Sebha use various techniques for presenting
lectures
such
as:
lecture
method,
giving
printed
notes,
explanation
and
discussion.
2) The Use of PowerPoint Presentation for presenting lecture is not the common
practice in the EFL classrooms of the University of Sebha.
3) The Libyan EFL learners face many difficulties while grasping and understanding
main concepts in the lecture mainly due to the strategies used to present them and
the EFL status of English in Libya
4) The Libyan EFL learners expect their teachers to use advanced techniques and
tools like PowerPoint Presentation for presenting the lectures.
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5) When PowerPoint Presentation was used to present the lectures in Teaching
Methods
and
Micro-Teaching,
it
helped
EFL
learners
in
grasping
and
understanding the main concepts and theories in these subjects easily.
6) The Libyan EFL learners experienced various benefits from the use of PowerPoint
Presentation which included making class interactive and easy, attracting their
attention, making the complex concept easy and motivated them to learn.
7) The Libyan EFL teachers use of traditional strategies to present the lectures were
results of many things such as: feeling comfortable with tradition techniques,
lack of required computer skills, inadequate infrastructure and costly nature of
the required equipments.
6. Conclusion
PowerPoint Presentation can enrich the information presented in a lesson, and
make
the
presentation
more
organized
and
flexible.
Main
points
can
be
emphasized by using graphics, animation and sound. PowerPoint can be used for
content review also. It can be highly effective and powerful tool not only to
present the material but also to make the complex ideas in the material easy and
simple to grasp. It can also help in attracting and sustain the learners’ attention in
the
class
which
is
the
main
requirement
for
making
learning
successful.
Understanding such benefits, the present study investigated the status of the use
of the PowerPoint Presentation in the EFL classrooms of the University of Sebha,
Libya.
The study presented the results which showed that the use of PowerPoint
Presentation does not enjoy a great place in the Libyan EFL classrooms.
However, the need of the use of PowerPoint Presentation was felt and demanded
by the Libyan EFL learners as this use helped them in number of ways. The use
of PowerPoint Presentations can offer opportunities for effectively incorporating
colorful text,
photographs, illustrations,
drawings,
tables, graphs,
movies and
transition from one to another through a slide show. All these benefits have many
implications for the Libyan EFL teachers for making their classes dynamic,
interactive,
easy,
motivating and
enjoyable.
Both
teachers and
students
can
exploit this tool in number of ways for teaching and learning various language
skills effectively and enjoyably.
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Therefore attempts should be made at all the levels, students- teachers and
administration- to create an ideal atmosphere by making the required skills and
infrastructure available
to exploit this tool for better and effective teaching and
learning of English as a foreign language in Libya.
References
Deville. M. C. (2001). Language Testing and Technology: past and future.
Retrieved from
Http://llt.msu.edu/vol5num2/deville/default.html.
Gordon, T. (2007). Teaching Young Children a Second Language. Praeger.
Hlynka, D., & Mason, R. (1998). PowerPoint in the classroom: what is the point?
Educational Technology, 38, 45–48.
Kask, S. (2000). The impact of using computer presentations (CAP) on student
learning in the microeconomics principles course. Paper
presented at the meeting of the American Economic
Association, Boston.
Lowry, R. B. (1999). Electronic presentation of lectures – effect upon student
performance. University Chemistry Education, 3, 18–21.
Mantei, E. J. (2000). Using internet class notes and PowerPoint in physical
geology lecture: comparing the success of computer technology
with traditional teaching techniques. Journal of College Science
Teaching, 29, 301–305.
Miller, R. B., & McCown, R. R. (1986). Effects of text coherence and
elaboration on recall of sentences within paragraphs.
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 11, 127–138.
Nowaczyk, R. H., Santos, L. T., & Patton, C. (1998). Student perception of
multimedia in the undergraduate classroom. International
Journal of Instructional Media, 25, 367–382.
Pascarella, E., Edison, M., Nora, A., Hagedorn, L. S., & Braxton, J. (1996).
Effects of teacher organization/preparation and teacher
skill/clarity on general cognitive skills in college. Journal of
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Pittman, R. B. (1985). Perceived instructional effectiveness and associated
teaching dimensions. Journal of Experimental Education, 54,
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Saaid. N. (2010). The use of Technology (Audiovisual Aids) in teaching English
as a foreign language in Benghazi secondary schools.
(Unpublished Master thesis). Leicester University.
Szabo, A., & Hastings, N. (2000). Using IT in the undergraduate classroom:
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Advantages of Using PowerPoint Presentation in EFL - IJ-ELTS

Transcription

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